1 00:00:00,762 --> 00:00:04,301 So, of all my childhood memories, 2 00:00:04,325 --> 00:00:07,317 there is one that stands above the rest. 3 00:00:07,698 --> 00:00:10,958 And that is the time that my brave parents 4 00:00:10,982 --> 00:00:13,799 rented an RV, packed it with me and my brothers, 5 00:00:13,823 --> 00:00:16,172 and drove west from our house in Minneapolis, 6 00:00:16,196 --> 00:00:18,463 out to Yellowstone National Park. 7 00:00:19,188 --> 00:00:22,737 We saw all the sights, like the geysers, we stopped at the Badlands, 8 00:00:22,761 --> 00:00:27,347 but more than any of the places, I remember this as an adventure. 9 00:00:27,371 --> 00:00:31,157 This was my introduction to the Wild West. 10 00:00:31,974 --> 00:00:34,617 But it wasn't until I got older 11 00:00:34,641 --> 00:00:38,513 and I learned more about the National Park System 12 00:00:38,537 --> 00:00:41,244 that I realized just how lucky I was. 13 00:00:41,268 --> 00:00:43,054 One, to have that experience, 14 00:00:43,078 --> 00:00:45,754 but also that, hundreds of years ago, 15 00:00:45,778 --> 00:00:51,656 people had the foresight to set aside the very best places, 16 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:56,577 the very best ecosystems in the country, for everyone. 17 00:00:57,125 --> 00:00:58,688 And for future generations. 18 00:00:59,046 --> 00:01:05,260 And to really appreciate just how prescient that idea was, 19 00:01:05,284 --> 00:01:06,458 you have to go back 20 00:01:06,482 --> 00:01:09,648 and you have to look at the history of the National Parks Service. 21 00:01:09,672 --> 00:01:14,219 So, a lot of people know, the first national park was Yellowstone, in 1872. 22 00:01:14,641 --> 00:01:17,783 A lot of people think of John Muir, the poet, naturalist, 23 00:01:17,807 --> 00:01:19,342 who was such a visionary 24 00:01:19,366 --> 00:01:22,783 in getting people inspired by the idea of conservation -- 25 00:01:22,807 --> 00:01:26,522 that we need to take the best places and protect them. 26 00:01:26,546 --> 00:01:29,291 He had an audience in very high places -- 27 00:01:29,315 --> 00:01:32,459 there's a great story of Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir 28 00:01:32,483 --> 00:01:35,737 going hiking, in Yosemite, during his presidency, 29 00:01:35,761 --> 00:01:39,014 four days, completely off the grid, just the two of them. 30 00:01:39,038 --> 00:01:41,111 Can you imagine a president 31 00:01:41,135 --> 00:01:43,894 actually just going completely off the grid for four days? 32 00:01:44,284 --> 00:01:45,609 (Laughter) 33 00:01:45,633 --> 00:01:46,791 No tweeting. 34 00:01:46,815 --> 00:01:50,609 (Laughter) (Applause) 35 00:01:50,633 --> 00:01:51,881 Like that idea. 36 00:01:51,905 --> 00:01:52,905 (Applause) 37 00:01:54,625 --> 00:02:00,545 But he had a great impact on Theodore Roosevelt. 38 00:02:00,569 --> 00:02:03,213 And he created dozens of national parks, 39 00:02:03,237 --> 00:02:07,164 hundreds of thousands of square acres of national wildlife refuges. 40 00:02:07,188 --> 00:02:11,839 It was an important administration, but it wasn't a done deal. 41 00:02:11,863 --> 00:02:17,561 Even less than 10 years after he created all of those new places, 42 00:02:17,585 --> 00:02:20,220 the future of those places was very much in doubt. 43 00:02:20,847 --> 00:02:23,994 And it wasn't until this guy, Stephen Mather, 44 00:02:24,018 --> 00:02:25,633 a businessman from Chicago, 45 00:02:25,657 --> 00:02:28,879 wrote an angry letter to the Department of the Interior, saying, 46 00:02:28,903 --> 00:02:33,227 "You guys aren't doing a good enough job protecting and preserving these places." 47 00:02:33,736 --> 00:02:35,363 Then, something was done about it. 48 00:02:35,387 --> 00:02:37,553 The Department of the Interior wrote him back. 49 00:02:37,577 --> 00:02:40,014 "Mr. Mather, if you care so much about this, 50 00:02:40,038 --> 00:02:42,982 why don't you come to Washington and do it yourself?" 51 00:02:43,006 --> 00:02:44,117 (Laughter) 52 00:02:44,141 --> 00:02:45,918 And he did. 53 00:02:45,942 --> 00:02:48,204 He took a job at the Department of the Interior, 54 00:02:48,228 --> 00:02:51,784 but more importantly, he started a campaign. 55 00:02:52,304 --> 00:02:57,082 He actually had a meeting two blocks from here, in 1914, 56 00:02:57,106 --> 00:02:58,439 in California Hall, 57 00:02:58,463 --> 00:03:01,845 and he brought together the park superintendents and a few other people 58 00:03:01,869 --> 00:03:04,669 who cared about this idea of conservation. 59 00:03:05,601 --> 00:03:09,537 And they put together a plan, they hatched a campaign 60 00:03:09,561 --> 00:03:14,006 that eventually led to the National Park Service in 1916. 61 00:03:14,744 --> 00:03:16,078 And that's really important. 62 00:03:16,102 --> 00:03:20,103 Because it went from an idea that we should protect these places 63 00:03:20,127 --> 00:03:21,619 to an actual plan, 64 00:03:21,643 --> 00:03:25,683 a way for people to enlist and carry that idea forward 65 00:03:25,707 --> 00:03:26,981 for future generations, 66 00:03:27,005 --> 00:03:31,045 so little kids like me can go and have these amazing experiences. 67 00:03:31,514 --> 00:03:34,914 That is the history of the National Parks on land. 68 00:03:35,490 --> 00:03:38,236 The ocean, what I want to talk to you about today, 69 00:03:38,260 --> 00:03:40,037 is a completely different story. 70 00:03:40,061 --> 00:03:43,779 And we are almost precisely 100 years behind. 71 00:03:44,323 --> 00:03:47,076 So, the first marine sanctuary was in 1972, 72 00:03:47,100 --> 00:03:50,147 after the oil spill in Santa Barbara, 73 00:03:50,171 --> 00:03:52,878 people got interested in taking that concept 74 00:03:52,902 --> 00:03:56,156 and applying it to underwater environments. 75 00:03:56,180 --> 00:03:59,266 We've had our own John Muir, who's Dr. Sylvia Earle, 76 00:03:59,290 --> 00:04:01,189 who's been a tireless advocate 77 00:04:01,213 --> 00:04:04,529 for creating these marine protected areas around the world. 78 00:04:04,553 --> 00:04:07,752 So, I know there's a lot of bad news about the ocean, 79 00:04:07,776 --> 00:04:10,892 there's plastic pollution, coral bleaching, over-fishing -- 80 00:04:10,916 --> 00:04:13,821 it's hard to take it all in sometimes. 81 00:04:13,845 --> 00:04:19,276 But this idea of setting aside places for nature is working. 82 00:04:19,300 --> 00:04:22,450 Science tells us that if you set these places aside, 83 00:04:22,474 --> 00:04:25,617 nature will come back and we can keep the oceans healthy. 84 00:04:25,641 --> 00:04:27,743 So we know this idea works. 85 00:04:28,141 --> 00:04:32,093 And Dr. Sylvia Earl has been influential, like John Muir, 86 00:04:32,117 --> 00:04:33,291 with administrations -- 87 00:04:33,315 --> 00:04:37,172 George W. Bush and Obama were both fantastic ocean presidents, 88 00:04:37,196 --> 00:04:40,579 creating marine protected areas all around the country. 89 00:04:41,173 --> 00:04:44,442 This is not a conservative idea or a liberal idea, 90 00:04:44,466 --> 00:04:46,244 it's not even an American idea, 91 00:04:46,268 --> 00:04:48,204 it's just a good idea. 92 00:04:48,673 --> 00:04:49,926 (Laughter) 93 00:04:49,950 --> 00:04:51,561 (Applause) 94 00:04:51,585 --> 00:04:52,766 But -- 95 00:04:52,790 --> 00:04:54,053 (Applause) 96 00:04:54,077 --> 00:04:56,401 Here we are, a few years later. 97 00:04:56,751 --> 00:05:01,830 And now the administration is proposing to roll back a lot of the progress 98 00:05:01,854 --> 00:05:03,780 we've made in the past 20 years. 99 00:05:04,449 --> 00:05:07,568 So, so, don't mourn -- organize. 100 00:05:08,809 --> 00:05:11,722 We need to do what Stephen Mather did 100 years ago. 101 00:05:11,746 --> 00:05:16,049 We need to start a campaign to get people engaged with this idea. 102 00:05:16,365 --> 00:05:20,745 And I think we need a league of citizen scientists for the ocean. 103 00:05:21,486 --> 00:05:25,351 And I've seen glimpses of this future, and I know that it's possible. 104 00:05:25,375 --> 00:05:28,880 My friend Erik and I started building underwater robots, 105 00:05:28,904 --> 00:05:32,838 these little swimming cameras with lights that you can see underwater. 106 00:05:32,862 --> 00:05:35,544 We started building these in his garage five years ago, 107 00:05:35,568 --> 00:05:36,908 and we've watched that grow 108 00:05:36,932 --> 00:05:40,283 into this community of thousands of people around the world, 109 00:05:40,307 --> 00:05:43,220 who believe that everybody should have access to these places. 110 00:05:43,244 --> 00:05:45,720 We all deserve the tools to go and explore. 111 00:05:46,076 --> 00:05:47,668 There's stories like Laura James, 112 00:05:47,692 --> 00:05:51,188 who used her robot to find out that sea stars in her area were dying. 113 00:05:51,212 --> 00:05:54,299 And she started this whole citizen science campaign, 114 00:05:54,323 --> 00:05:57,466 collected data and drove awareness for sea-star wasting syndrome, 115 00:05:57,490 --> 00:06:00,514 to try and figure out what was happening there. 116 00:06:00,538 --> 00:06:02,673 There are stories of fishermen in Mexico, 117 00:06:02,697 --> 00:06:05,418 who used the robot to create marine protected areas 118 00:06:05,442 --> 00:06:10,283 where Nassau grouper were spawning, to protect the future of this species. 119 00:06:10,307 --> 00:06:11,831 It's really amazing stuff. 120 00:06:11,855 --> 00:06:14,799 We found that if you give people the tools, 121 00:06:14,823 --> 00:06:16,513 they'll do the right thing. 122 00:06:19,291 --> 00:06:21,196 But we need to take it a step further. 123 00:06:21,220 --> 00:06:25,125 And, actually, I think we can dust off Stephen Mather's playbook. 124 00:06:25,149 --> 00:06:26,350 So what did he do? 125 00:06:26,374 --> 00:06:29,918 So, the first thing that he did was he focused on infrastructure. 126 00:06:29,942 --> 00:06:32,704 So 1914 wasn't just a time for the parks, 127 00:06:32,728 --> 00:06:34,943 it was also a time for the automobile, 128 00:06:34,967 --> 00:06:36,983 the Model T was rolling off the line, 129 00:06:37,007 --> 00:06:39,188 and Stephen Mather understood 130 00:06:39,212 --> 00:06:42,220 that this was going to be an important part of American culture. 131 00:06:42,244 --> 00:06:45,363 And so he partnered with highway associations around the country 132 00:06:45,387 --> 00:06:48,871 to build big, beautiful highways out to these parks. 133 00:06:48,895 --> 00:06:52,349 And it worked, he's basically invented car camping. 134 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:56,252 And he knew that if people didn't go to these places, 135 00:06:56,276 --> 00:06:59,332 that they wouldn’t fall in love with them and they wouldn't care. 136 00:06:59,356 --> 00:07:01,849 So that was a really insightful idea that he had. 137 00:07:02,474 --> 00:07:03,934 The second thing they did, 138 00:07:03,958 --> 00:07:06,006 was they focused on visionary philanthropy. 139 00:07:06,030 --> 00:07:09,617 So, Stephen Mather was a successful businessman from Chicago, 140 00:07:09,641 --> 00:07:12,849 and anytime there was a parks association that needed funding, 141 00:07:12,873 --> 00:07:15,730 anytime there was a highway association that needed funding, 142 00:07:15,754 --> 00:07:18,071 they'd step in, write the checks, make it happen. 143 00:07:18,095 --> 00:07:20,453 There's a great story of his friend William Kent, 144 00:07:20,477 --> 00:07:25,409 who recognized there was a small patch of redwoods left on the base of Mount Tam, 145 00:07:25,433 --> 00:07:27,093 and so he quickly bought the land 146 00:07:27,117 --> 00:07:29,346 and donated it to this National Parks effort. 147 00:07:29,370 --> 00:07:30,695 That's Muir Woods today -- 148 00:07:30,719 --> 00:07:33,822 it's one of the most popular national parks in the whole country. 149 00:07:33,846 --> 00:07:36,128 My parents are visiting here from Minnesota, 150 00:07:36,152 --> 00:07:38,421 and they don't really even care about this talk, 151 00:07:38,445 --> 00:07:40,806 all they're talking about is going to Muir Woods. 152 00:07:40,830 --> 00:07:42,881 (Laughter) 153 00:07:43,659 --> 00:07:45,299 But the last thing is critical -- 154 00:07:45,323 --> 00:07:47,728 Stephen Mather focused on engagement. 155 00:07:47,752 --> 00:07:52,220 In one of the first meetings that they had around this new system, he said, 156 00:07:52,244 --> 00:07:54,712 "If you're a writer, I want you to write about this. 157 00:07:54,736 --> 00:07:58,601 If you're a business owner, I want you to tell your clubs and your organizations. 158 00:07:58,625 --> 00:08:01,611 If you work for the government, I want you to pass regulation." 159 00:08:01,635 --> 00:08:02,895 Everybody had a job. 160 00:08:02,919 --> 00:08:05,042 "Each of you, all of you, have a role to play 161 00:08:05,066 --> 00:08:07,518 in protecting these places for future generations." 162 00:08:08,161 --> 00:08:10,248 Each of you, all of you. 163 00:08:11,154 --> 00:08:12,304 I love that. 164 00:08:14,339 --> 00:08:16,601 That's the plan -- simple, three-point plan. 165 00:08:17,585 --> 00:08:19,387 I think we can do the same. 166 00:08:19,411 --> 00:08:21,494 So, this was the headline when Obama created 167 00:08:21,518 --> 00:08:25,276 the Papahanaumokuakea National Monument: 168 00:08:25,300 --> 00:08:28,165 "Lots to see, but good luck trying to get there." 169 00:08:28,593 --> 00:08:33,307 But like Mather, we should focus on the technology of our time, 170 00:08:33,331 --> 00:08:36,168 all of this new, amazing, digital infrastructure 171 00:08:36,192 --> 00:08:39,404 can be built to engage people with the oceans. 172 00:08:39,751 --> 00:08:44,133 So, the National Marine Sanctuary 173 00:08:44,157 --> 00:08:47,863 has created all these wonderful VR 360 videos, 174 00:08:47,887 --> 00:08:51,021 where you can actually go and see what these places look like. 175 00:08:51,395 --> 00:08:53,850 Our team is continuing to build new tools, 176 00:08:53,874 --> 00:08:56,729 this is our latest, this is the trident underwater drone, 177 00:08:56,753 --> 00:09:00,348 it's a diving submarine, it's sleek, you can fit it in a backpack, 178 00:09:00,372 --> 00:09:03,469 it can go down to 100 meters, deeper than most divers can go. 179 00:09:03,796 --> 00:09:07,999 It can see these environments that most people have never had access to. 180 00:09:09,006 --> 00:09:12,473 New tools are coming and we need even better tools. 181 00:09:13,839 --> 00:09:17,426 We can also use more visionary philanthropists. 182 00:09:17,450 --> 00:09:20,347 So, when Erik and I started this, we didn't have any money, 183 00:09:20,371 --> 00:09:22,771 we were building this in his garage. 184 00:09:23,163 --> 00:09:24,594 But we went to Kickstarter. 185 00:09:24,618 --> 00:09:26,201 And we found over 1,800 people, 186 00:09:26,225 --> 00:09:28,721 almost a million dollars we've raised on Kickstarter, 187 00:09:28,745 --> 00:09:30,346 finding other people who think, 188 00:09:30,370 --> 00:09:31,849 "Yeah, that's a good idea. 189 00:09:31,873 --> 00:09:33,378 I want to be a part of that." 190 00:09:33,712 --> 00:09:36,736 We need more ways for people to get engaged 191 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,479 and become visionary philanthropists themselves. 192 00:09:39,503 --> 00:09:41,516 We've also had traditional philanthropists, 193 00:09:41,540 --> 00:09:42,885 who've stepped up to fund us 194 00:09:42,909 --> 00:09:46,131 in the SEE initiative -- the Science Education and Exploration, 195 00:09:46,155 --> 00:09:50,969 who are going to help us get donated units out to people on the frontlines, 196 00:09:50,993 --> 00:09:54,255 people who are doing the science, people who are telling the stories, 197 00:09:54,279 --> 00:09:55,715 inspiring communities. 198 00:09:55,739 --> 00:09:59,032 You can go on to OpenExplorer.com and see what people are doing, 199 00:09:59,056 --> 00:10:01,104 it's hugely inspirational. 200 00:10:02,119 --> 00:10:04,818 And it will also, hopefully, spur you to get involved. 201 00:10:04,842 --> 00:10:08,517 Because there is plenty of room to get involved. 202 00:10:08,541 --> 00:10:12,415 We want to hear what ideas you have for telling these stories. 203 00:10:13,529 --> 00:10:16,116 Because that's just it -- this is all about engagement. 204 00:10:16,140 --> 00:10:19,997 There's all sorts of interesting, new ways for people to participate 205 00:10:20,021 --> 00:10:21,870 in the protection of these places. 206 00:10:21,894 --> 00:10:23,188 And the understanding. 207 00:10:23,212 --> 00:10:26,597 Like, Reef Check -- scuba divers are going down and swimming transects 208 00:10:26,621 --> 00:10:30,109 and counting fish and biodiversity data. 209 00:10:30,133 --> 00:10:33,533 They're getting the information we need to protect these places. 210 00:10:33,911 --> 00:10:37,306 If you're going down to the beach, participate in MPA Watch. 211 00:10:37,330 --> 00:10:41,014 Document what activities you see going on in these different areas. 212 00:10:41,038 --> 00:10:44,304 There is room for everybody to participate here. 213 00:10:45,490 --> 00:10:47,410 And that's just it, that's what we need. 214 00:10:47,434 --> 00:10:51,283 We need to build a future for our grandkids' grandkids. 215 00:10:51,307 --> 00:10:53,552 Last month, I went out sailing, 216 00:10:53,576 --> 00:10:57,149 and we got out to the Farallon Islands, 25 miles off the Gate. 217 00:10:57,173 --> 00:10:59,926 And most people think of this as kind of a bird sanctuary, 218 00:10:59,950 --> 00:11:02,617 but we took our robot, and we sent it in. 219 00:11:03,125 --> 00:11:07,322 And the people on the boat were astonished at the life beneath the surface. 220 00:11:08,101 --> 00:11:11,768 I mean, these are really, really important ecosystems. 221 00:11:12,625 --> 00:11:16,855 Really, and this is a whole wild world we haven't yet explored. 222 00:11:16,879 --> 00:11:19,871 And we have an opportunity right now, 223 00:11:19,895 --> 00:11:22,037 just as they did 100 years ago, 224 00:11:22,061 --> 00:11:26,886 to protect these places, to put in a plan, to keep people engaged. 225 00:11:27,625 --> 00:11:29,950 So last year, when the executive order came out, 226 00:11:29,974 --> 00:11:31,832 putting all of the progress we've made, 227 00:11:31,856 --> 00:11:35,138 all of these new marine protected areas, under review, 228 00:11:35,162 --> 00:11:38,749 there were over 100,000 people who commented online. 229 00:11:39,845 --> 00:11:42,448 Almost all of these letters were saying, 230 00:11:42,472 --> 00:11:46,805 "Don't do it; protecting these places is the right thing to do." 231 00:11:47,839 --> 00:11:51,728 My message to those 100,000 people, those 100,000 letters is: 232 00:11:51,752 --> 00:11:53,442 don't wait for Washington. 233 00:11:53,466 --> 00:11:55,093 We can do this ourselves. 234 00:11:55,117 --> 00:11:56,291 Thank you. 235 00:11:56,315 --> 00:12:00,497 (Applause)